NYC DA Drops Charges Against Black Lives Matter Leader Who Assaulted Female Cop
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance sets BLM thug Derrick Ingram free
© press
A New York City district attorney has dropped the charges against a Black Lives Matter leader who was arrested for assaulting a female police officer.
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, ordered the charges against BLM thug Derrick Ingram be dropped and released him on bail.
Ingram, 28, is accused of assaulting a police officer after a leftist mob chased off an NYPD team sent to arrest the man.
DA Vance personally ordered the charges against Ingram dropped from felony assault in the second degree to misdemeanor assault, a law enforcement source told the New York Post.
Ingram is accused of injuring a female cop by shouting directly in her ear with a bullhorn on June 14.
The attack resulted in the officer being hospitalized with temporary hearing damage.
© press
On Friday, a team of NYPD officers who were sent to arrest Ingram retreated after an hours-long standoff outside his home, where an angry crowd confronted them, according to reports.
Ingram later surrendered at a police precinct after the arrest team left.
WATCH:
Derrick Ingram, organizer of a group leading New York’s BLM protests, had a 5 hour stand off with police earlier today. Helicopter and dozens of officers, some in riot gear, were deployed for an arrest at his Manhattan apartment, they withdrew after protesters arrived. #protests pic.twitter.com/3IQoPfBp1w
— @SCOOTERCASTER (FNTV) (@ScooterCasterNY) August 8, 2020
Ingram, who had faced up to seven years in prison if convicted on the felony charge, now faces as little as no jail time if convicted of the misdemeanor.
The DA’s office gave no explanation for the reduced charge, on which Ingram was released with no bail Saturday night.
NYC Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch blasted the decision to drop the felony charge against Ingram, who is the leader of activist group Warriors in the Garden.
"Is there any doubt who is in charge of this city now?" Lynch said in a statement.
"The criminal mob is dictating their terms to the NYPD brass and district attorneys, who are tripping over themselves to comply.
"Police officers want to know: What are we still doing out here?" he continued.
"Why are our leaders sending us out to enforce laws they don't believe in?
"And what are we supposed to tell New Yorkers who are watching us retreat while violence overwhelms their streets?" Lynch added.
Earlier this week, the NYPD released citywide crime statistics for July, showing a 177 percent increase in the number of shooting incidents across the city compared to last year.
Murders were up 59 percent for the month, burglaries rose 31 percent, and auto thefts increased 53 percent.
On Friday, dozens of NYPD officers clad in riot gear descended on Ingram's apartment to arrest him for allegedly assaulting a female officer by using a bullhorn to scream into her ear at a protest.
An hours-long standoff ensued as Ingram refused to let the officers enter his apartment without a warrant and decried the allegations against him via Instagram Live.
"What did I do? What did I do?" Ingram said on the livestream.
"I was born black, that's what I did."
Meanwhile, a throng of protesters gathered near Ingram's home and aimed to force the officers to retreat by shouting at them and filming them on social media.
The NYPD officers retreated as the protest crowd grew - eliciting outrage from police union leaders who said they should not have backed down.
The officers had arrived at Ingram's apartment in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood at about 7 am Friday but did not have a warrant allowing forced entry.
Officers banged on the door and demanded that Ingram emerge while police dogs stood in the hallway and an NYPD helicopter circled above.
About two dozen police vehicles lined West 45th Street as barriers were put up on either end of the block.
Ingram broadcasted the situation on Warrior in the Garden's Instagram account from inside his apartment, eventually drawing a massive crowd of protesters to the edge of the blockade.
In the Instagram video, Ingram was heard speaking to his lawyer on the phone while a cop outside his door shouted: "Why don't you be the warrior you state you are and come out and face the system?"
Ingram told his audience that he was afraid that officers would hurt him if he went outside, or that they would plant something incriminating in his home if he gave them access.
© press
On the street below, over 100 protesters raised their fists and chanted: "Where's your warrant."
About six hours into the stand-off police suddenly began to disperse after NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea reportedly ordered them to pull back at about 1 pm.
Warriors in the Garden, a youth-led group that Ingram co-founded in the wake of the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that has organized many protests in New York City the past few months, issued a statement condemning Ingram's attempted arrest on Friday.
The group accused the NYPD of using "threats and intimidation tactics" to rattle Ingram, noting that he has "no criminal history."
"This was an attempt to silence our movement," the group said.
"This militarized police response endangers the safety of residents in Hell's Kitchen and across NYC."
